As a secondary school teacher, and, for the last seven years, as a religion teacher, I have seen cohort after cohort decline in Christian values and principles.
Since I have worked in all the three school sectors, I am in a good position to ascertain the wider picture of such a reality. Whilst I will not go down memory lane from the Middle Ages (as Charles Taylor does in his book: A Secular Age, on which this article is based), there is no doubt that secularism has shaped our modern identity, spirituality and the public sphere.
As a teacher who encounters students on a daily basis and has three religion lessons with each class, I experience this type of “decline in belief” and the “rejection of the faith” firsthand.
Already at 13 years of age, I notice the following aspects in the students: (1) they already do not attend mass on Sunday; (2) they do not have a prayer life; (3) there are no “faith conversations” at home with their parents; (4) they do not know the basic tenets of the faith, at times not even who the Three Persons of the Trinity are; (5) a number of them do not have a Bible; (6) most of them are in favour of abortion; and (7) when asked a question in class during the religion lesson, almost all of them do not have an answer and, therefore, remain silent.
These Year 9 students were confirmed in the faith only a few months earlier. Consequently, the question is not what happened during these few months (since we started school in September) but what happened during these 13 years in the family regarding the passing on of the faith.
I will say it plainly, since I am convinced that the change is evident, at least for me: we (as far as teaching religion is concerned) cannot keep on teaching religion to this generation (and, for the sake of the argument, this should have been done years ago) in the way we are doing.
I feel that the Church is not grabbing the bull by its horns in the manner we are doing things, at least at the school (religion) level. It is as though we are fighting the AI era with shovels. I am convinced that a new approach is needed; we cannot keep using the same mindset from the 1950s and 1960s, when people simply believed everything they were told without questioning it.
Our students have a lot of questions that we, as religion teachers, have no time to answer as there are too many themes in the current syllabus that do not even make any sense today. If I had 30 minutes with this generation, I would rather speak to them about the reasonability to believe, rather than the Vedas, the Hadith or even the prophets.
Let us speak about the person of Jesus Christ and how we can meet Him personally. Let us hear their questions and build catechesis and lessons from their questioning.
I love it when they tell me: “Sir, I have two questions…” It is normal that they have questions. What is not normal is that we are still giving them rigid frameworks full of rules and doctrines, trying to make everything fit just to prepare for an exam.
I feel that the Church is not grabbing the bull by its horns in the manner we are doing things- Claudio Laferla
If we want to have a believing society, then we need to have a new strategy, both with the students and with their parents, because it is clear – at least for me – that things are not right and that they have been going wrong for a long time.
In today’s teaching arena, the teacher does not only teach but s/he also catechises and evangelises. We cannot keep these aspects of faith isolated in different boxes.
Taylor speaks about the “immanent frame”, which is how society prioritises the secular understanding of reality and how belief came to be understood as “what I think is true” without any other referential aspect.
Taylor highlights three aspects for the decline in belief: (1) individualism; (2) decline of traditional authority; and (3) the pluralistic society.
Therefore, I am convinced that we need to adopt a new approach in the way we teach religion in class.
There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach, especially in religion, where dialogue, arguments and counter-arguments are needed as these help students hear the true reasons based on the Scriptures, Holy tradition and the Church’s Magisterium.
I am convinced that we need to enter into dialogue with society – in class. The beloved Pope Benedict XVI once put it as to “enter the agora”, the public square. Our public square is our classrooms.
Without a doubt, this calls for authentic Christian living on all levels, especially from us as teachers and parents. Consequently, I appeal to those in authority to recognise the spiritual void in our schools and reconsider our approach.
Instead of relying on a rigid system, we should create a method that connects directly with the students’ reality, meeting them where they are and help them start a “journey of faith”.
The best example of teaching and evangelisation combined can definitely be observed in the event of the Emmaus disciples.
Claudio Laferla is a religion teacher with a Master’s in Spirituality.